Golden Globes Diversity: One Step Ahead, One Step Back

HFPA announce the nominations for the Golden Globes 2019 this Thursday. And since then the audience has been largely confused about the ideas of inclusivity in the nominations. At some instances the Golden Globes 2019 nominations divinely miss out on diversity. While at other places, it appears that there are at least baby steps in the right direction. Some may brand these nominations as #Globessodiverse. While for others the nominations list is clearly sexist and devastatingly exclusive.

The early half of 2019 will be the prime award season for the upcoming year. With the Grammys, Oscars, and Golden Globes all set to air with only ephemeral pauses between each other. Viewers have often accused the annual Award Show season for being too bigoted. Accusations of racism peaked back in 2016, when fans stormed the internet with their #OscarstooWhite hashtags. Since then, Entertainment Awards have been increasingly careful in designing their nominations list to be as astute and cogent as they can be.

The major perplexity around diversity this time arises around the category of best film director. The Golden Globes 2019 best film director nominations transfer sensations of women hate as there is not a single female director sitting on the list. But, at the same time, the Golden Globes have achieved a major milestone by nominating a good fraction of 4 out of 10 deserving films by non white directors directors in their nominations list. These include Crazy Rich Asians, Black Panther, If Beale Street Could Talk, and BlacKkKlansman.

However, it is difficult not to notice that the historical record of female film directors nominated by the Golden Globes retain their count of mere 5. Sofia Coppola (“Lost in Translation”), Jane Campion (“The Piano”), Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty”), Ava DuVernay (“Selma”) and Barbra Streisand (“Yentl” and “The Prince of Tides”). Streisand is the only one to win, for 1984’s “Yentl.”

Back in 2017 when Natalie Portman was announcing the nominees for the best film director category she ended her note by a snarky shutdown of the Golden Globes diversity. She said “And here are all the male nominees….” this year’s nominations too, just glaringly revise the idea.

On the other hand, The Golden Globes 2019 have found their host in Asian American actress Sandra Oh. Oh isn’t just the first actress of Asian Descent to host a major award show, but she has also made headlines when the Emmys listed her as the first Asian American actress to run in the lead actress race. The Golden Globes 2019 have also given Sandra a nod in the lead drama actress category for Killing Eve. Moreover, If she takes home she will be the first Korean-Canadian actress to hold multiple Golden Globes awards. Appointing Oh as a host is not only step The Golden Globes have taken towards Asian inclusion. The Golden Globes 2019 have also historically nominated their first actress of Asian descent (Constance Wu for Crazy Rich Asians) in half a century.

About her nomination, Wu says

“for so long Asian-Americans have been in film and TV, but we’ve always been supporting another culture’s story. We’ve never been leading our culture’s story.”

Are The Golden Globes 2019 Nominations Still Racist?

There appears to be general content over the Golden Globes diversity at the 2019 nominations. We will also get a clear picture of celebrity reactions over the degree of inclusion at the Golden Globes 2019 in their acceptance speeches. Until then keep following this space for more exciting updates.

Syed Fahadullah Hussaini is Dankanator’s TV critic and reporter. Fahad has written for platforms including Parhlo, Wonderful Engineering and Mangobaaz. Fahad’s work has also appeared on Dawn’s Young World, and on several Paparazzi issues.

Fahad views TV as a resource rather than a medium. Laden richly with an extensive medley of ideas, cultures, facts, and fables. The writer taps on TV’s new and returning presentations, and channels out every bit of news related to them, along with objectively (and subjectively) analyzing their substance.

Fahad is currently working on a short-stories collection, ‘Seven Colors Of Life’, which shall soon be available on his blog.